Darkside Rising
by Darkside524
Summary: First preview chapter of a new story I'm writing. Let me know what you think. Update: now includes chapter 2
1. Chapter 1

This is the first chapter for a new story I'm about halfway through writing. I'm pretty happy with this chapter but it's still libel to change as I keep writing.

To answer any questions you may have, this story is going to be a one off, so no squeals. There may also be some character deaths but I haven't decided yet.

Regarding the main character, he's the same person as in my other story 'Origins' but with a different outlook on life. When I first came up with the idea for 'Origins' I had intended to have Nameless as a bad guy but I wrote him as a hero instead. A while later I remembered that I had wanted him to be a villain so I started writing this story. So he's the same character, just with a new name and a new purpose.

The story is set at the start of Buffy series 3 and some time before the events of Kingdom Hearts 1.

Disclaimer : BtVS is Whendon's, Kingdom hearts is Square's and Nomura's. Any songs used are also the property of their respective owners (too many to list). The story and any original characters are mine. No profit was made, no animals were harmed (a lot of people but no animals) etc.

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1: Arrival.

Most people suffer from a common misconception : that they know everything about their world. Take the residents of Sunnydale for example. Nine out of ten of them firmly believe that there is nothing wrong with their town, despite all evidence to the contrary. There are a few however that are aware of the supernatural, Vampires, daemons and all manner of strangeness.

All of these daemons' know that surrounding the human world are countless daemon worlds looking for a way in so that they can wreak havoc.

But this is also a misconception.

The human world and daemon realms are in fact just one world. A tiny islet in a vast ocean. There are only a few that know of the existence of other worlds and fewer still that can actually reach those worlds.

Unfortunately for the residents of Sunnydale (and the rest of their world), not all of these people have good intentions.

In one of Sunnydale's quite back ally's, in the middle of the night, reality shifted slightly. Then split open. A dark portal appeared where there had previously been just empty space. Two new begins walked into Sunnydale. One a man dressed in a brown cloak that completely obscured his features. The other was a boy dressed predominantly in black, trousers, shoes, shirt even the leather jacket he wore.

"Ok" said the boy, breaking the silence. "Now...now I'm impressed."

The two walked out of the ally into what appeared to be a high street. Most of the shops were closed but a few were still open, serving those few people brave or foolish enough to venture out after dark.

"I can't believe it. This really is Sunnydale isn't it. Ha!" The boy looked around, awestruck by his surroundings. He was in a whole new world. And to top it off, it was one he knew well. "How can this be Sunnydale? This is on TV, how can it be a real place?" he asked his companion.

"The stories of worlds often find a way to reach another." replied the other man."Your world is unique though. It hears so many stories."

"K. Makes 'bout as much sense as the rest of this."

The pair rounded a corner into another ally. The man in the cloak lead with the boy following close behind. "So this darkness stuff, it makes me better right? Stronger, faster, tougher..."

"All of these things and others besides. Right now your abilities are...limited but you have the potential to be stronger. In time." said the man in a matter of fact voice.

"liking the sound of that boss." replied the boy. He looked up quickly, enhanced hearing picking up noises from ahead. "Trouble."

A little further down the alley their path was blocked by three vampires. They were standing in a line, facing the duo. Evidently they'd wait here for people to walk down the alley then attack them. Boy were they in for a surprise.

"You boys take a wrong turn?" asked one of the vampires, a large male.

"Don't you know this town ain't safe after dark?" joked the groups only female member.

"A perfect opportunity for you to test your new powers." said the man.

The boy smiled and began to walk forwards, needing no further encouragement. "Aye aye".

A black aura enveloped the boy as he moved towards the vampire trio. There smiles had faltered slightly but they still stood their ground. They jumped back when the boy jerked out his arm, causing a sword to materialise in his hand.

The sword had a black metal core with a purple crystal forming the outer blade, with two short protrusions on either side of the blade.

The boy spun the sword in his hand, testing its weight. Satisfied he turned on the vamps. "Tremble in my darkness!"

He lunged forwards in a blinding burst of speed. The two male vampires were dusted instantly, cut down by the black sword. The woman lashed out striking the boy across the face. His head jerked to the right but he was otherwise unphased.

The woman looked confused that her attack had done nothing. "Ha ha ha ha. Oh, pain is my friend." The boy grabbed the woman by the neck and lifted her off the ground. "Allow me to introduce you to it." The boy rammed the sword through the vampires rib cage, she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he turned back to the other man. "How'd I do?"

"Brutal and unrefined. But promising none the less."

"Ok, first I need to figure out when this is. Seeing as how this town isn't a crater its before the First Evil attacks so..." The boy paused for a moment. He knew he had forgotten something but he couldn't remember what. "Oh...right. Getting ahead of myself."

The boy whistled. Answering the call were five neo shadow Heartless that rose up out of the ground behind him. "Find this worlds heart, and do what you do best." The heartless dashed off out of sight, following their masters orders. "Now that's sorted I can get down to business. Finding Buffy Summers."

"Remember that you are here for a purpose. Not to indulge you childish need for amusement."

"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport. The Heartless are looking for this worlds heart and I haven't forgotten why I'm here. Have I given you a reason not to trust me yet boss?"

"Not yet."

The man turned away, heading towards a black portal that had just appeared behind him. "Don't forget your purpose here." he said before vanishing, leaving the boy alone in the ally.

"Whatever you say Ansem."

"Here vampires, vampires, vampires!" called Buffy for what felt like the hundredth time that night. Buffy Summers was on her nightly patrol in the Sunnydale cemetery, looking for any Vampires that needed a good dusting. Unfortunately no vampires were obliging her need to hit someone.

It had been months since she'd been forced to kill her lover, Angel, to save the world. And only a few weeks since she arrived back in Sunnydale. Seeing her friends and her mom again, plus all the feelings about Angel were weighing heavily and she needed some kind of release from all the stress.

"Buffy?"

Buffy spun round to face the speaker. It was a boy, tall, thin with pale skin and black, spiky hair. He was dress completely in black except for a red symbol on his shirt. It looked sort of like a red heart with a cross though it.

"Buffy Anne Summers?" asked the boy.

"Yes. Who are you?" asked Buffy.

The boy smiled slightly. "Oh, I'm your worst nightmare honey."

"Really? Because you don't look like next week's history te-" Buffy was interrupted when the boy lunged forward. She raised her arms blocking his punch. He was fast and strong. Stronger than any natural human. Buffy grabbed his arm then flipped him over, smashing him into the ground. Then she got a look at the boys eyes. The pupils were an unnatural shade of bright yellow.

The boy jerked up and resumed his attack against Buffy. Now that she had recovered from the initial surprise for his powers she was having a far easier time. Buffy blocked every punch then lashed out with a kick of her own. The boy was knock backwards, breaking a tombstone as he went.

For a moment nothing happened, Buffy just stood where she was, bracing for another attack. Then he staggered to his feet. He wobbled for a moment, then he looked right at Buffy. "This isn't over nemesis. So swears..."

The boy trailed off. Before he'd met Ansem the boy had no idea of the dangers of using darkness. As a result it had obliterated most of his past memories, including his real name. If he was going to pick a new one now would be the time.

Nameless, or No-name. No. Those were obvious and stupid. No-Heart? Even worse. Heartless? Ansem had told him about the Heartless. There were many different types, all built for battle. But the biggest and baddest of all were the...

"So swears Darkside." with that he turned and limped away, punctuating every step with an "Ow".

Buffy shock her head. She thought that she'd seen the weirdest this town had to offer. Well, if there had been any vamps about they would be long gone now. Buffy turned and started on her way home. Her mother worried if she stayed out too late. Plus tomorrow was a school day.

The newly named Darkside watched her go.

"You held back." He jumped at the voice behind him. Ansem was standing there. How long had he been watching?

"I wanted to test her strength. Plus now she thinks I'm a joke. So when I show my true colours she won't see me coming." Darkside walked off, losing his false limp. Buffy's punches had hurt, but they were nothing serious. "Right now I need to find somewhere to sleep. Then tomorrow its back to school, for a little...experiment."


	2. Chapter 2

2: School Days

"So swears Darkside!? Ha ha ha!" laughed Xander.

"Yep, then he limped off." giggled Buffy. She'd just finished recounting her story to Willow, Xander and Giles. The group were currently sitting in the school library. It was midday and the whole school was no its lunch break. Of course there was no one else in the library so no chance of getting overheard.

"Yes well, despite his...er...ineptitude. This Darkside did display some unknown powers. It may not be wise to underestimate him." said Giles, raining on the parade as usual.

"Oh, lighten up Giles. I beat the crap out of him. He's no threat." replied Buffy.

Somewhere in the distance the school bell started to ring, signalling the end of lunch time.

"Well, back to class then campers." said Willow. "I can't wait to tell Oz about what happened. 'So swears Darkside' Ha!"

Willow, Xander and Buffy walked out of the library leaving Giles alone to continue worrying about Buffy's new 'nemesis'. If any of them had bothered to look they would have notice Darkside himself standing just to the left of the library doors.

He watched as the trio walked away down the corridor towards their afternoon classes. "I'll give you 'inept' you posh, upper-class, tweed wearing-"

"Didn't you hear the bell!?" Darkside looked to his left to see who was speaking. It was a short and rather unpleasant looking little man that Darkside instantly recognised as Principle Snyder. "Class has started so unless you want to wind up in detention-Argh!"

Darkside grabbed Snyder by his collar, lifted him off the ground and head butted him. Snyder was knocked unconscious and Darkside let his body drop to the floor. "Always wanted to do that." He left Snyder where he lay and went off in search of his target.

She didn't take long to find.

"Harmony!"

The blond girl turned round "Yes" she gave Darkside a once-over and quickly decided that he was below her on the social pyramid and therefore not worth talking to. "And who are you?" she asked in an uncaring, rude tone.

"Oh, Doesn't matter. I'm not here to talk about me. I'm here to talk about you." said Darkside

"Whatever" said Harmony, turning to go.

"You're going to be famous you know." That caught Harmony's attention. "Oh yeah. You're going to make it big girl. I'm talking," he leaned in closer "your own talk show."

Harmony's eyes practically glowed with excitement. She hadn't even noticed that they were completely alone now.

"You're going to have a big impact on this worlds future. You're going to bring Vampires into the mainstream."

Darkside put his hand on Harmony's shoulder. She was about to say something like 'hands off', then there was a loud ssssshick sound.

Harmony looked down at the source of the noise. Her eyes bulged at the sight. There was a long, black sword sticking in her stomach. She followed the sword until it led her back to Darkside.

She looked up at him for a moment, then she fell back.

Darkside looked down at her body and the red pool expanding beneath it.

"Well" came Ansem's voice from behind him "did you find what you wanted?"

"Oh yes" Darkside looked away from Harmony's body and approached Ansem. "Harmony had a destiny in this world. A big one. And I ended it." He was smiling broadly as he explained the consequences of his actions. "I killed Harmony and because of that the whole future of this world changes. I can change this worlds future!"

"True. But take care. The more you change this worlds fate the less useful your fore-knowledge becomes" warned Ansem.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Darkside walked away.

"And what of the girl. Does her death not bother you?" asked Ansem

Darkside paused for a moment, taking one last look at Harmony's body. "No" Then he carried on.

"I'm writing how things go from now on. Buffy's little adventure." A dark portal opened in front of him.

"Just became a horror story."

The first that Buffy knew something was wrong was when she heard the scream. She wasn't the only one. The entire class heard it as well. Everyone sat stock still for a moment, then rushed out of the classroom before their teacher could say a word.

Buffy ran with the others wondering what could be happening. Vampire attack? No its daylight. Daemons? More likely. 'Maybe I'm getting worried or nothing' she thought to herself. 'Maybe it's just a high school thing. One of the Cordetts being forced to dissect a frog or something stupid.'

No such luck.

Buffy forced her way past the throng of people in front of her. At the front there was a group of teachers trying to hold the students back. Buffy looked past them and saw a body lying on the floor. It took her a moment to recognise it as having once been Harmony Kendel.

Buffy walked away. There was nothing she could do for Harmony now. Except find whatever killed her.

On her way, Cordilia bumped into her. She looked anyone for a moment until she realised it was Buffy. "Buffy. Oh finally. Do you have any idea what's going on. Everyone's running about and shouting. What happened, and have you seen Harmony, we were supposed to be in chem together."

"Cordi. Harmony's...she's..."

"She's what Buffy?" asked Cordilia, sounding as though she dreaded the answer.

"She's dead Cordi."

Half an hour later the scoobies were all assembled in the library. Cordilia hadn't stopped crying since Buffy had broken the news to her. She'd so far managed to use up three boxes of tissues on her own.

"...it's not like we were that close but she was always there you know. To compliment my hair or dress or just to make me look better by being around." moaned Cordilia through the tears.

"Any idea what did this Giles?" asked Xander.

"Not without examining the body, no. Buffy you saw the...er Harmony. Was there anything that stands out. Any ritual markings or bite marks?"

"No. Just a big hole."

"Hey guys" called Willow from over by the computer. "I'm into the Sunnydale Police database. They haven't done an autopsy yet but their thinking that Harmony was r-run through with a sword. A big sword."

"Daemons that use swords. That doesn't exactly narrow it down Willow." said Giles

"Hey, I'm just reading the report here. They'll put the rest up later. I'll check again in the morning."

"Ok so in the mean time. We still going to the bronze tonight?" asked Buffy. "It would be nice to not think about death and daemons for a while."

"I'm game" said Xander

"Ok" muttered Cordilia

Willow and Oz gave a nod indicating that they would be there to.

"I suppose I'll just have to put up with staying up all night researching 'daemons with swords'." complained Giles.

"Ok, see you all tonight" said Buffy

The group walked out leaving the library empty. Then Darkside moved out from behind a book shelf.

"The bronze, eh. If I'm right that means that we're about to have company."


	3. Chapter 3

Well, here's chapter 3. Like the other chapters it's still subject to change.

I'd also like to say a big thanks to Javamonsoon for his feedback.

As always, review and feedback are welcome.

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3: Faith, Hope and Darkside

It was around eleven at night and the bronze was packed with partying kids. Buffy had only just arrived and was searching for the others. The she caught sight of Willow and Oz, having some romantic smooches. Buffy smiled slightly and sat down in the chair opposite them.

"Don't let me interrupt" she said.

Oz and Willow looked up from their kissing and Buffy passed Oz one of the drinks she'd been holding.

"Thanks" said Oz.

Willow looked at Buffy for a moment, as though trying to work something out. "Are you...is she all glowy?" said Willow, noticing that Buffy was in a good mood.

Buffy rolled her eyes and gave her friends her best innocent look. Willow always could see right through her.

"Yeah, I suspect happiness." agreed Oz.

Buffy finally relented "I passed my English makeup exam, hangin' with my friends. Hello, my life, how I've missed you."

Buffy was surprised to see Scott walk up to the table.

"Hi, Scott. What are you doing here?" asked Willow

"You told me that if I came here after eight, I could run into Buffy" replied Scott.

Buffy shot Willow a withering look. The redhead witch hid behind her drink, taking a big gulp.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I'm a bad liar. It's not good for the soul. O-o-or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch." said Scott, apologetically.

Buffy was a little lost for things to say so she went for the safest option. "Hi, Scott"

"Hi" he replied.

There was an uncomfy silence as Scott tried to think about something to comment on. "Don't you love this song?"

"Uh, yeah! Actually I do?" answered Buffy.

"Well, would you like to..." Scott moved his head to indicated the dance floor.

"Dance?...um" Buffy looked at Willow for help but she just smiled encouragingly.

"I don't know" Willow frowned slightly at Buffy's response. "I'm bad with...well. Thank you for asking. It's just that there..."

Scott gave her an understanding look "Okay, you know what? I'm just gonna go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind, you can mosey on over, and then if not, then you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, right?"

Buffy managed a half hearted "Right" as Scott walked off to find a place to wait. As soon as he was gone Buffy rolled her eyes, mentally kicking herself for bungling the whole conversation.

"Come on, Buffy. I mean, the guy is charm, a-and normal, which is what you wanted to get back to." said Willow, admonishing her for rejecting Scott.

"Plus, bonus points for use of the word 'mosey'." added Oz.

"I just don't think I'm ready." said Buffy

"What's stopping you?" asked Willow.

Buffy thought about that question. What was stopping her? How long was she going to sit around morning Angel?

Her train of thought was broken by the arrival of Xander and Cordilia. She still wasn't sure what Xander saw in Sunnydale Highs self proclaimed queen. Cordilia herself seemed to be in a far better mood. Well better by Cordilida standards anyway.

"Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave." she said, pointing at the dance floor.

Buffy looked to where Cordi was pointing and saw a couple that stood out from the rest. There was a girl, a brunet, dancing energetically with a man who was moving way too fast for the music.

"What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?" said Cordi, commenting on the man's dancing.

Buffy watched as the couple continued to dance until the girl pointed towards the door. The guy seemed to take the hint, leading her out with his arm around her.

Something about him aroused Buffy's suspicions. "I don't think that guy thrives on sunshine."

Buffy got up and made for the door the couple had just left from. As she crossed the dance floor she was startled when Scott stepped out in front of her.

"Hi" he said.

"Hi." replied Buffy. The she realised. He thought that she'd come over to dance with him. "Oh, no, I...I-I have to..."

"Oh. Uh, uh, sorry, my bad" said Scott.

"No. I-it's mine. Really, it's mine, but I...I-I-I have to go." said Buffy, trying to let Scott down gently. With that Buffy left. Leaving a very confused Scott behind her.

As soon as Buffy was outside the bronze she scanned around for any sign of the couple. No sign of them. "Where'd she go?"

"I bet it's nothing" said Cordilia "They're probably just making out."

Then Buffy heard something. Someone, a girl, shouted "Hey!" then there was a sound like something breaking. Xander produced a steak from his jacket and handed it to Buffy. The whole group headed off in the direction of the noise.

"That does not sound like making out. Unless I'm doing it wrong" said Willow.

Buffy rounded a corner and saw the boy, defiantly a vampire, lying on the ground looking dazed. The girl was completely unhurt, she was even smiling. She took a few steps towards Buffy.

"It's okay, I got it. You're, uh, Buffy, right?" she asked.

Buffy was too take aback to reply. The vampire got back up again and grabbed the girl by the shoulders. She snapped her head back, catching the vamp in the face. While he was stuned she grabbed hold of his arm.

"I'm Faith" she continued. The she shoved the vampire into a section of chain link fence.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town." said Oz.

Buffy and the scoobies continued to watch as Faith continued her fight with the vamp. Buffy couldn't deny that she was good. No matter what the vamp through at her she just blocked it or avoided it al together.

Faith reached over to Buffy and jerked the steak from her hand before Buffy could say a word of protest. "Can I borrow that?" she asked.

The fight continued for a few more moments until Faith expertly staked the vampire, who crumbled into dust. Faith turned to face Buffy and handed back her stake. "Thanks B. Couldn't have done it without you."

Faith walked past the others, heading back for the bronze. Buffy just stared after her, unsure how to proceed.

Above the ally, Darkside looked on from his perch on a rooftop. "So that's Faith Lehne. Perhaps I should introduce myself."

A few hours later Faith and Buffy were alone, walking through one of Sunnydale's cemeteries, partly on patrol and partly to talk. Back at the bronze Faith had told them all her slaying stories but there hadn't really been much time for any one-on-one discussion.

"So, on average, how many vamps do you get a night?" asked Faith.

"Varies. Sometimes there's lots, sometimes there's nots." replied Buffy

"Well, well, well. Look who's back"

Buffy rolled her eyes. Not him again. She looked over to where the voice had come from. Sure enough Darkside was there.

"And you brought a friend" he continued, giving Faith a wide smile. "Hey"

"Who's that?" asked Faith, smirking.

"Darkside, meat Faith, fellow slayer. Faith meat Darkside, a pain in my butt." answered Buffy, sounding rather tired.

"Darkside?" snorted Faith "that your real name?"

"Look who's' talking 'Faith'." countered Darkside. "So you're a slayer too then. Good. Twice the glory for me." He readied himself in a fighting stance. A dark aura enveloping him as he did.

"May I?" asked Faith, sarcastically.

"After you" replied Buffy, bowing slightly.

Darkside charged forwards, straight at Faith. She ducked down then punched up as soon as Darkside was close enough. The force of the blow, coupled with his own momentum threw the boy over Faith's head and into a grave stone behind her, which shattered with the impact.

Darkside got up, unsteadily. Buffy walked up to him. "You ok?"

"Ow. Yeah, think so."

"Good" Buffy punched Darkside right in the face causing him to spin round and fall to the floor. Once again he got back up. This time stumbling a little.

"He really doesn't learn does he?" said Faith as she walked past Buffy. She walked right up to Darkside, who had only just stood up, and punched him in the gut. He doubled over in pain, then Faith smashed her fist into his face. He flipped over ending up on his back on the grass.

"You done?" asked Buffy.

"I'm done" groaned Darkside from where he lay. "If you two don't mind. I could use a lift home."

"Oh, you gotta be kidding!" yelled Faith. "B, please tell me were not going to help this loser?"

"We can't just leave him here for the vampires F." answered Buffy. She reached down and hoisted Darkside up. Faith grudgingly took up a position on the opposite side to Buffy.

"So where do you live?" asked Buffy.

"Not far. That way." said Darkside, pointing out of the graveyard.

Sometime later the trio came across a motel on the other side of town. "This is me" said Darkside, unhooking himself from the two slayers.

"Wait, you live here?" asked Faith. "I live here!"

"Really?" said Darkside, looking surprised. "Huh, small world." He move off towards one of the metal stairways. "Guess I'll see you in a day or two."

"What. A. Loser" said Faith as soon as he'd gone.

"Yeah, but he's good for a laugh." said Buffy.

The next evening Darkside was sitting on the roof of the motel he was living in, looking out at Sunnydale town. He'd been there for hours now and the sun had long ago left the horizon.

His new home wasn't exactly the Ritz but it had four walls, a roof and a T.V. so it was liveable. Getting money to pay the rent was easy. All he had to do was teleport into a bank vault and hep himself. Same went for food, clothes and anything else that took his fancy. If there was one power he loved most of all it was probably the teleporting.

"Take a look at this tiny place" Darkside was so surprised by Ansem's voice he nearly fell off the roof.

"Seriously, a little warning next time, ok?".

"I'm surprised you haven't fought the Slayers again. You can't seem to avoid them for long." Ansem moved forward so he was standing next to Darkside.

"Yeah, well. If I'm going to be the villain of this piece, the heroes are going to be tough to avoid." There was an explosion of in the distance. Darkside looked over and saw a large plume of smoke rising from a wooded area. "That must be Mister Trick's 'Slayer fest'. Well that tells me where I am."

Darkside was about to get up and return to his room when he felt...strange. Then he collapsed. Darkness erupted from him, rising up in a pillar until it was nearly ten feet tall.

"Arrrrrgh! What...w-whats..." he tried to say through the pain.

"You're losing yourself to the darkness." said Ansem, merely observing events. "Part of you wants to become one with the dark while another fights against it. It is the conflict that is causing the pain."

As Ansem spoke the pain subsided, the darkness vanished and Darkside rose to his feet. "So what's going to happen to me?" he asked.

"Either you will become more powerful, or you will lose yourself faster than I thought."

"Lovely." said Darkside before continuing on his way.

Hours later Darkside was disturbed by a knock at his door. He opened it to find a girl he didn't recognise standing outside.

"Hi. Would you like to by some candy?" she asked.

She wasn't much of a salesman but something about the candy jogged Darkside's memory so he brought a box.

"Oh right" he proclaimed to the empty room. "Ethan Rain's chocolates that make everyone act like kids." he looked at the ox in his hand. "I wonder..."

He took out one of the sweets and examined it closely. It seemed like a normal chocolate, but then again he seemed like a normal teenager.

Throughing caution to the wind Darkside popped the sweet in his mouth and swallowed. Nothing happened. "So magic doesn't affect me. Cool."

He jumped back on his bed and started on the rest of the chocolates. There wasn't much to do right now, but soon enough, the fun would start. He just had to wait.

"Hey Buffy." Buffy looked up to see Willow walking in the school library. It had been two days since Ethan Rain had turned all the adults back into children and she was still trying to shack the mental image of her mother as a teenager.

"Hey Wills."

"Red" said Faith. Faith was sitting opposite Buffy although instead of reading she was laying back and trying to pass the time until she could beat up more vampires.

"Hey...um, Faith. Err, listen, Buffy I just came by to say that police just closed Harmony's case. Their saying it's a mugging gone wrong."

That caught Buffy's attention. She pushed aside the book she was reading and looked up at Willow. Even Faith seemed to become interested. "Well, that's typical. No way was that a mugging. Harmony looked like she'd been..." Buffy trailed off as she remembered the sight of Harmony's body.

"Little lost here guys. Who's Harmony?" asked Faith.

"Right, you didn't know her. Harmony was a girl that went t to school here until something killed her while she was going to class. I...never found what did it." said Buffy.

Giles walked into the library carrying a small group of books under one arm. "Good morning Buffy, Faith. Ah Willow, good to see you. Any updates on Harmony's case."

"They closed it." said Buffy.

Willow nodded in confirmation. "Mugging gone wrong."

"Idiots. The girl was practically eviscerated. How could they think that-"

"Giles, it's before lunch. I really don't need words like 'eviscerate' in my head." said Buffy.

"Right. I'm...sorry. It's just that I've had no luck finding out what happened either and it's...well, frustrating."

"Hey, we'll get it eventually." said Faith, rising from her chair. "Mean time I'm going to find somewhere louder. Later B." with that she walked off.

Buffy told herself that Faith was right. Whatever killed Harmony would come back and when it did, she'd be waiting for it.

After sundown Faith had gone straight to the cemetery. She was itching for a fight and there were either going to be vamps there or that moron, Darkside.

"Helloooooooo hot stuff!" and the winner was; the moron.

"Seriously, don't you have a girlfriend or something?" asked Faith more rhetorically than as an actual question.

"No. Why, you offering?" Darkside gave her a wink. Faith laughed. "Hey. You're going to pay for that slayARRRRGHHHH!"

Darkside stumbled slightly, clutching at his side as if in pain. Faith wasn't sure what was going on. Was this some kind of trick?

"Your...going to...raaagh!" This time he fell to his knees, both arms wrapped round his stomach. Darkness started coiling up around him like some kind of purpley-black smoke.

'Ok, not a trick. What the hell's happening to him?' thought Faith.

"No. Not now...not now." he moaned out. A black portal appeared around him, swallowing him up. Then he was gone.

"How...am I going to explain this to B" wondered Faith out loud.

Darkside re-materialised in the middle of the desert. He tried to stand from his kneeling position but he just fell down again.

He rolled onto his back and saw Ansem looking down again.

"The conflict inside you is destroying you. Only you can end it" Ansem backed away as he spoke. "Open your heart to the Darkness." Darkside forced himself to stand. He rose, unsteadily to his feet. "Let your being become Darkness itself."

"RRRRRAAHGGGGHHHHH!" Darkside road at the sky, flinging his arms out to the sides. Darkness erupted from his body once more, forming a tall column.

When it faded, Darkside was still standing. He was breathing heavily and he felt like he'd been hit by a bus, but he was still here.

"Interesting" said Ansem.

"Ow...guess this means I'm...going to be around a little...longer then...boss." panted Darkside. Then he realised that Ansem was pointing above him. He looked up. "Well...that's new." He walked off, sensing the thing behind him following. Now he was more powerful than even. Soon he was going to hit Buffy and this world in a way they'd never see coming.

"_Oh my god. There's something happnin' to me. I can feel a change is coming. Baby better watch your step 'cause I'm in love."  
_

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__**Update: As of today (05/08/13) I'm now on chapter 15 (which is titled 'Corruption') and I have only one major plot point to cover before the ending. So that should be about two chapters for the last plot point, one build up, then the ending and the ****epilogue. With luck the whole thing will be done and up beginning of next month. Don't read if you like happy endings...or Willow and Tara.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ok. So I'm still not quite done yet but I did say I'd have it all up by September. So I've just put up some more chapters that are done. Enjoy.

* * *

4: Make a wish

It was a Saturday night and the scoobies were all assembled at the bronze. Even Giles had shown up despite his dislike for the place. But then again these were special circumstances. Buffy had gotten the group, together to take Faith out for the night. Faith may have annoyed her some of the time but Buffy had to admit that she was feeling sorry for her right now.

Faith's new 'watcher' Gwendolyn Post had turned out to be completely crazy and hell bent on attaining dark magic artefacts. Buffy had also neglected to tell Faith (or anyone else for that matter) about Angel returning from Hell. The others would forgive her in time but Buffy got the feeling that Faith might not fully trust her after that.

As Buffy looked at Faith she noticed that she seemed...less than herself. She wasn't smiling or dancing she was just sitting there staring at her drink.

"You ok there F.?" asked Buffy.

Faith looked up from her drink and gave Buffy a false smile "Yeah, just fine B."

The bronze was having a sort-of karaoke night, where people could go on stage and sing a rock song of their choice. Pretty much everyone who went up was terrible, obviously.

"Hey come on Faith, cheer up" said Willow "You know, we'll just keep on getting you ice cream until you do."

"And later you can beat up that ...um what's his name?" Xander snapped his fingers as he concentrated. "Darkside"

Faith shifted uncomfortably. "Faith, what's wrong?" asked Buffy.

"He's dead. Or gone or something" Faith didn't look anyone in the eye as she spoke she just stated what happened. The others just listened to her, stunned. "There...there wasn't anything I could do. He just...faded away."

Buffy was about to say something comforting, then something on stage caught her eye. "Faith. You said that Darkside was dead, right?"

"Yes B. I thought I just covered that." Faith sounded angry at Buffy but she didn't really care right now.

"It's just that he looks...pretty lively for a dead guy."

Everyone followed Buffy's line of vision to the stage. Standing in the middle, holding a mike was Darkside. Alive and well.

"You've got to be kidding." said Faith, almost to herself.

"Hello Sunnydale!" said Darkside, his voice amplified by the bronze's speakers.

"That's Darkside?" said Xander.

"Did anyone tell this guy that there are other primary colours than black?" said Cordilia. Buffy ignored her, she was too busy staring at her self styled 'nemesis' back from the dead on stage.

"I take it your all having a good time tonight. So sorry, but I'm going to have to spoil it all with my terrible singing." He continued. "Now you won't have heard this one before but it not mine, and I have no idea who sang it. So whoever they are, all credit to them. Here we go."

"_This time. I wonder what it feels like. To find the one in this life. The one we all dream of, but dreams just aren't enough so I'll be waiting for the real thing..."_

Buffy listened as Darkside continued. Despite his warning he wasn't that bad at singing. He may not be boy-band material but still...

"_...'casue nobody wants to be the last one there. And everyone wants to feel like someone cares. Someone to love with my life in their hands. There's gotta be somebody for me out there..."_

Darkside finished his song and bowed for the applause. After handing the mike back to the announcer he jumped off the stage and headed over to the scoobies table. "Um...hi."

"Hi. Don't take this the wrong way but...Faith sort of told us you. Died." said Buffy.

"Ah. Right, the whole disappearing act thing. Yeah that's one of the downsides of using my powers. But...I think I'm over it now." He sat down in the chair opposite from Buffy.

"So...I, um. Heard that your boyfriend is back from the dead."

Buffy straightened up in surprise. "How did you know!?"

"It's a small Hellmouth honey, word gets around."

"Will you stop calling me 'honey'." said Buffy, venomously.

"Ok, ok. So this is the 'scobby gang'." He looked at all of the assembled Scoobies. "Willow, trainee witch. Oz, guitarist, Willow's boyfriend and Werewolf. Cordilia, High school queen, pain in the ass. Xander...Xander. And Giles, your watcher."

Faith smile slightly. "Looks like you've got a stalker B."

Darkside looked offended. "I'm not stalking, I'm spying! It not like I'm going through your underwear draw and leaving creepy poems."

"It's still a little creepy" said Xander.

"A lot creepy" added Willow.

Cordilia gave Darkside an indignant look "I'm not a pain in the ass!"

"I'm more curious as to the nature of your powers." Buffy looked over to Giles. "You said that there were 'downside's'. As in more than one."

"Aside from it nearly killing me...none that I'm worried about." He got up and started o move away "I'm off. If you want a rematch then You'll find me at the graveyard."

"What makes you think we want to fight you" said Faith.

"You got something better to do?"

They watched as he left the club. "We'll, he may be a jerk but you gotta admit. He's got confidence." said Oz.

Darkside was walking through Sunnydale's high street, window shopping. The slayers hadn't show up the last few nights so he'd tested his new powers on some very unfortunate vampires.

Ansem had taught his some spells before he came to Sunnydale, but those were just the basics. Fire, ice, heal. After opening his heart to darkness those spells had become a lot stronger and he was starting to learn new ones. Ansem was always close by of course. Keeping an eye on things.

"Hey boss" Darkside had notice Ansem's reflection in the window.

"You are waiting for something" it wasn't a question.

"Well if I'm right. Today's the day Cordilia make that wish that turns this town upside down." He looked down the street and saw a bright white light approaching him. Everyone else seemed oblivious to it however. This would be fun.

"You might want to hold on to your hat...erm, hood. This may be bumpy."

The wave passed over. Darkside felt a tingling sensation, then the world came back into view. But it wasn't the same.

It was still mid-morning but there were far less people than there had been a few moments ago. He looked back at the shop he'd been standing in front of. Before, it had been a men's fashion shop but now it looked dilapidated and abandoned. The mannequins in the window had been stripped and most had been damaged in one way or another, the door was boarded up and the interior looked empty and dusty.

"Eventually everything will go back to normal. But until then, nothing I do here has any impact on what happens in the other Sunnydale. In other words..." Darkside threw a fire ball into the empty shop. It exploded, shattering the glass and setting the whole building on fire. What few people were about screamed and ran. "party time."

Darkside walked off, freezing a car as he went. Ansem stayed where he was for a moment, then he disappeared into a black portal.

After sundown Darkside was still walking about the town. Right now he was feeling absolutely giddy with power. He'd hadn't had a chance to use his new powers to their full in the real Sunnydale but in this one he could do as he pleased.

The past few hours had been spent by him singing as loud as he could, fiery explosions playing counterpoint to his operatic efforts. After incinerating yet another car (which never seemed to get old) Darkside stopped fooling about and decided to look for a proper fight. Question was, where to find it?

"Hey! Um...dorkside!" Cordilia, why did it have to be Cordilia?

"It's Darkside, Cordi!."

"Whatever. What is going on with this town? It's like ever since lunchtime everything's gone bizaroworld?"

Darkside smiled broadly. This was going to be fun. "Well its simple Cordi. Today you made a wish that came true. You wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale."

Cordilia was surprised and shocked. How did he know about the wish? And how had it come true?

"Now think Cordi. If Buffy was never here, who stopped the Master from rising?" Cordilia thought for a moment. Then realisation dawned on her.

"Oh" she managed.

"Yep. Notice how it's so empty?. It's cause everyone's dead. Because of you."

"Me!" Yelled Cordilia "This isn't my fault. I'm not the one who-"

"Made a wish that changed reality for the worst?" Cordilia was starting to get sick of Darkside and his mocking tone. Then she thought of something.

"Wait. How come you remember the other Sunnydale?"

"Simple really, magic doesn't affect me. Plus I understand more than you do. Not that you understand much."

Cordilia gave him an indignant look "Are you calling me dumb?"

"What on earth gave you that impression?" Darkside's voice was thick with sarcasm. Cordilia was about to tell him exactly what she thought of him until she spotted someone she knew.

"Xander?"

"Well, wadda ya know, Cordilia chase." he replied.

"Not just Xander." Darkside pointed to a woman who was standing next to Xander. It took a moment of Cordilia to recognise her as Willow. At least it looked like Willow but the outfit she was wearing, all black leather and tight fitting...'Weird and wrong on so many levels' she thought.

"Board now" said Willow.

"Couldn't agree more." said Darkside. "See, thing is Cordi. In this world Xander and Wills here are an item."

"What! I wish us into another reality and their still together. Oh, I can't win!"

"It gets better. Again, with no Buffy, who saved them from the vampires those two and a bit years ago?"

Cordilia jumped back as Willow and Xander vamped out, their faces changing into demonic parodies of their original forms.

"Yeah, Harmony looked like that to, when I ran her through. With this." Darkside produced his sword, pointing it at Cordilia's chest. She was having trouble processing all this. Darkside was evil, real evil and he'd killed Harmony!

"I'd run if I were you." Cordilia needed no further encouragement. She turned and ran down the street, not pausing to look back. He turned his attention back to the vampire versions of Willow and Xander.

"Now are you two going to go for the hard fight, or the easy kill?" The vampires looked at each other for a moment then they circled round Darkside, planning to go after Cordilia. "Oh and one more thing" they paused for a moment to look at him. "She's bringing the slayer to town, your boss will be pissed is she lives. That's all."

With that he turned and walked away, leaving events to unfold. He knew he had only a limited time left in this world now and he was going to make it last.

Sometime later Darkside had gone back to causing property damage using magic. His actions hadn't gone unnoticed and a small group of vampires had taken to following him around just to see what he'd do next. He'd actually notice two of the groups female members eyeing him up. After turning a car into an icicle he decided to try his luck.

"So ladies, like what you see? This isn't the only type of magic I can do you know." He gave them a wink. The two vampires gave him a smile each and moved a little closer to him.

Then Darkside saw something on the horizon. A bright white light heading his way. "Ohhhh. Not now. It was just about to get good!" The wave of light passed over him. The dark, vamp infested Sunnydale was gone, replaced by the bright, mid morning, happy(er) town.

"Crap. I'm never going to get any, am I."

"Enjoying yourself?" Darkside practically jumped out of his skin at Ansem's voice.

"Seriously, get a bell or something. One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack." Darkside started to walk down the street, with Ansem beside him. "I did enjoy myself actually. And the funs going to continue. I think it's time I started to shake things up, and I know just where to start. See, I look around at the forces of evil here, and I find them...wanting. The First Evil is coming to town soon, and when it does." He put on his best evil smirk. "I'll be waiting."


	5. Chapter 5

5: First to fall.

The First Evil liked to play mind games. If you were a non-corporeal entity with time on your hands you probably would to. The First had been toying with the minds of lesser creatures since there had been lesser creatures to torment. And it had become very good at breaking them.

Other creatures would go for something more physical, but the right words could do far more damage.

The latest target on the Firsts list was Angel, the vampire with a soul. Given the chance he could become quite the force for good, and the First couldn't abide that now. Over the past day or so, the First had been forcing Angel to relive his past killings as Angelus and now, tonight, it was time to drive the metaphorical steak in.

It materialised in the living room of Angel's mansion, a bleak, empty space that reflected its owners dark mood. It had adopted the guise of Jenney Calendar, someone whose memory would affect Angel the worst. Angel himself was standing a few feet away, with his back to the First.

"Having trouble sleeping?" it asked with false sympathy.

"Hmmm...No not really, how about you?" replied Angel, who seemed rather...happy. Almost jovial.

The First was quite taken aback. Had it completely driven Angel insane with the visions alone?

"I still blame you y'know." continued the First, trying to regain its composure.

"Oh, I dought the real Jenny blames the real Angel. I don't think the dead care about vengeance. Their dead, why would they give a hoot?"

The First was about to counter this when something Angel had said struck a wrong cord. "The _real_ Angel?"

'Angel' smirked at the First. "Caught that did you? Well done. Gold star for you!" He clapped. The he changed. There was a flash of darkness that momentarily consumed him. When it passed Angel was gone and in his place was someone else. Someone the First didn't know.

"Who are you?" it asked, more weary now.

"Call me Darkside." said the stranger.

"What are you. Why don't I know you. I'm the First I know everyone!"

Darkside's smirk grew slightly. "Evidently not. You know, I thought you'd be different to the others, but I was wrong. Your just like the rest, think you know all but you haven't got a clue." He took a few steps forward as he continued. "The biggest fish in the pond, but that still makes you just a fish in a pond."

"Where's the real Angel?" asked the First.

"Out cold. He won't wake up for hours. Leaving me plenty of time to kill you."

The First burst out laughing. "Kill me! Hahahah, oh that is priceless. I'm the First, I can't die. I'm the thing that darkness fears!"

Now it was Darkside's turn to laugh. "Darkness fears you...ha! Tell you what, let's ask it." He looked over the First's shoulder. "So boss. Are you afraid of this over inflated phantom?"

The First spun round to see who the boy was addressing. What it saw was a man wearing a brown cloak, at least it assumed it was a man. It couldn't see the man's face under the hood but it could tell that the man was looking right at it. The First didn't sense any fear. If anything it felt...amusement.

The it felt something move behind it. The boy, it had forgotten about the boy. ' No need to worry.' It told itself ' I can't be hurt, these two are no threat.' Then the pain hit.

While the First had its back turned, Darkside had readied his sword and lashed out at the First in an upwards diagonal blow. The blade cut into the First's incorporeal form and sent it spinning through the air. It crashed into a wall and fell to the ground.

"How?" It grunted "H-how...can you?"

"Darkness enhanced blade." replied Darkside as he closed in. The First looked around desperately around for a moment then it disappeared. "No! Get back here you chicken!" Yelled Darkside, slashing at the place where the First had been just moments ago. "Dam it!"

"RRRAAAGHHHH!" Darkside put his fist through the nearest wall. "Bloody hell! Ok, ok. The First is a coward. Now that it knows I can hurt it it'll stay far away."

Ansem just stood where he was. He didn't move or say anything, he just observed. "You know, you'd make a great ghost of Christmas Future." said Darkside. "Wait...Christmas. I forgot, it's Christmas here." He bolted for the door, breaking off a chunk of masonry from the wall as he went. "Gotta go!" then he was gone.

For a moment nothing happened, then a dark portal appeared to Ansem's left. A figure in a black hood walked out. "Xemnas." said Ansem, acknowledging his Nobodies arrival.

"I take it that he's your latest 'project'" said Xemnas "I assume he's proving useful."

"He has a great deal of power but the darkness is still consuming him. I dought he will last much longer."

"Shame, I thought he might make a possible vessel. "

"No. He doesn't have the heart for that. He never did."

With that the two vanished leaving and empty mansion.

After leaving the mansion, Darkside had gone to the highest spot he could find, which happened to be a small hill just outside of town. "It's just not Christmas without..." he aimed his right hand at the cloudy night sky. "Bliz-za!" A large ball of ice materialised in front of his palm and rocketed upwards, disappearing into the clouds. "Wait for it...wait for it..." sure enough, snow started to fall.

Darkside walked back to Sunnydale, enjoying the snowfall he'd created. Other people were walking in the streets to, some just admiring the snow, others running around, just having a good time. Two of these people he recognised.

"Buffy, Angel!" even from a distance he could make out Buffy's face changing to an 'oh god, not him' expression.

"Hi...Darkside. How've you...'bin. "

"Alright I guess. Haven't seen you or Faith in a while. Not fighting someone else on the side are you?"

"New friend?" asked Angel, meaning Darkside.

"Not exactly, Angel this is Darkside, my 'nemisis'."

"So he's an...enemy" said Angel, trying to work out where Darkside stood.

"More of a joke to be honest. He once said 'So swares Darkside'. Can you believe that?"

"I'm standing right here you know, I can hear every word your saying."Darkside looked up at the snow for a moment then back to Buffy. "Sorry I didn't get you anything for Christmas...but, um...mayby...later" he walked off.

"He's...interesting." said Angel, once he was sure Darkside was out of earshot.

"Try demented. He's persistent though, I'll give him that." Buffy watched Darkside as he continued walking. She hated to admit it but she was starting to get attached to the hyperactive idiot.

"Well, I better get home. Someone decided to break part of the mansion and know I've got to repair it. So...I'll see you later?" said Angel.

"Yeah...sure." said Buffy.

Days later, Buffy was felt like the world was back to normal. Well, normal by her standards anyway. She and Angel were together again, despite the fact that 'getting physical' was out of the question. Even Willow and Oz had mended the rift in their relationship. She was currently back on patrol, walking round the cemetery, waiting for vampire to show up. Things were going good.

"Hey honey!" And there was the catch.

"Oh, for the love of...Don't you have better things to do Darkside? Find a girlfriend? Homework? Something?"

"Yeah, well, I don't go to school and there...aren't really any girls that... I mean, Cordilia and her lot are way out of my league, Willow's with OZ and your gay."

"Wait what!" Buffy was so surprised she nearly dropped her steak. "Gay, what do you mean gay. I'm not gay!"

Darkside looked mildly surprised "You sure, 'cause your always hanging around with Willow, and then there's the body language whenever your around Faith."

"Body language? There's no body language! A-and Willows my best friend!" Then she noticed the smile that Darkside was trying to restrain. "You're just yanking my chain aren't you?"

"Maybe"

"Oh, you're going to pay for that."

Buffy marched up to Darkside, who was bracing himself for the first punch. Buffy hit him with everything she had. Nothing happened. No cries, no flying backwards. Nothing.

Darkside seemed more taken aback than she was. "Try again?" Buffy hit him again and once more, nothing happened. It was like all her strength was just gone. "Ok, either I've gotten unbelievably powerful over night or something is wrong with your powers."

"Oh god. What-what if their leaving. There's only supposed to be one slayer, what if its leaving me and going all into Faith." Buffy couldn't accept that her powers were leaving. Was she just going to be normal now? Spend her days boring people with her old war stories?

"Yeah, well, you don't know that for sure. Maybe some witch put a spell on you or something. You might want to ask Captain Tweed before jumping to conclusions."

Darkside's words reassured Buffy slightly. She resolved to go and talk to Giles in the morning.

"Hey, Buf." She looked up at Darkside. "You need someone to walk you home? This town ain't exactly safe at night."

Buffy was about to say no but Darkside did have a point. Sunnydale was nowhere near safe after dark and without her powers she was just as defenceless as everyone else. "Ok, fine." The two started walking together in the direction of Buffy's house. "If something nasty does show up while it's eating you I'll have a chance to run away."

The walk to Buffy's house was a quiet one, with Darkside looking around for any danger and Buffy wondering how on earth he'd made it this far in life.

"Here we are, safe and sound." Buffy was about to ask Darkside how he knew this was her house but then decided that maybe she was better off not knowing.

"Um, thanks...Darkside." She walked up to the front door, leaving Darkside behind. She was about to open the door when something she'd been wondering bubbled to the surface. "Why do you keep fighting me and Faith anyway. You know you're never going to win so why?"

Darkside smiled at her. "Maybe it's not about winning. And on that note, toodles."

Buffy watched him go for a moment before going inside. "What a weirdo."

Darkside kept walking. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Ansem had appeared beside him. "The watchers council is in Sunnydale. Time to take another piece off the board."

Blair heard a knock at the door. That should have been the first sign that something was wrong. No one was supposed to know they were there. But he'd just finished giving the vampire his pills and with all the adrenaline causing through his system, he wasn't thinking about little details like that. He opened to door before he could stop himself.

"Hi." said the boy who was standing outside. "Shame, I loved you in Enterprise."

Blair was about to tell him to leave, the sword came up. It just appeared out of nowhere. The first Blair knew about it it was sticking in his stomach. He looked at his killer for a moment before the sword was yanked out.

Blair fell back, dead. Hobson heard the commotion and realised what was happening. He waited for the intruder to enter the main sitting room, then he jumped out from behind a wall and fired a crossbow bolt at him.

The bolt slammed into Darkside's chest, making him stager a little. Hobson was convinced that it was over, then Darkside removed the bolt. "If that was all it took, I'd 'ave been dead a long time ago." He raised his hand and blasted Hobson with a dark bolt. Hobson was knock backwards, crashing into some furniture, then he vanished in as darkness consumed him.

There were only three of them left now. Darkside, the vampire Zachary Kralik and Quentin Travers.

"Pills?" asked Zachary, hopefully.

"Be silent, filth!" Darkside fired him with a lightning bolt. After a brief scream there was nothing left but ash. Quentin remained seated. He observed Darkside as he walked round and sat down in a chair opposite him.

"Hi" said Darkside. Travers didn't answer him. "You seem awfully calm for a man in your position."

"I don't know who you are or what you are but you have just declared war on the watchers council."

"Hahaha! Oh, there won't be a war. That implies that both sides have an equal chance of winning."

Travers smirked at him. "You don't know what you've done. Do you?"

"Nope, worse. I know exactly what I've done. But it's not what I've done, it's what I'm going to do that's really horrifying." Darkside gave Travers his best 'evil smirk' "You're a sham."

"Excuse me?" asked Travers, putting as much indignation as he could into his voice.

"You heard. All your crap about the slayer being a tool for the council, but without you the slayer is still the slayer. No matter what she will always have a purpose but what are you without her? Watchers with nothing to watch just milling around thumbing through dusty old books?" he picked up a book from a side table then slammed it down to make his point. "You need the slayer to validate your existence, but all she really needs you lot for is info. And if one of them ever figures that out she is going to slap you right back into your place." his expression changed from a smirk to one of sadness "Buffy's smart enough to work it out. But she'll never get the chance. Just one more thing she doesn't know I've taken away."

Travers was about to reply when he saw something stand up behind the boy's chair. Darkside followed his gaze and saw the neoshadow standing there.

"Ah. We have company." More heartless began appearing in the room, rising up from the floor or clinging to the roof. "They want to turn you into one of them you know. But I think a body will send a much clearer message."

"You really think killing me will make a difference?" asked Travers, defiantly.

"I think that, when the time comes, it'll draw attention away from where it aught to be." Darkside stood up and went to stand behind Travers' chair. Travers himself didn't move or try to run. He wasn't going to give this thing the satisfaction. Darkside rammed his sword through the back of the chair until the point was protruding from Travers' chest. As the leader of the watchers died, Darkside looked at the assembled Heartless. "Friends, Heartless, countryshadows, lend me your antenna."


	6. Chapter 6

6: Disappearing act As soon as the first class of the day was finished, Buffy headed straight for the library. No way was she going to have Darkside walk her home again. She and Giles were going to figure out what was wrong with her powers and then they were going to fix it. She found Giles sitting at the library's main table, pinching the bridge of his nose, seemingly deep in thought.

"Hey Giles." she greeted.

Giles looked up, seemingly startled by her. "Buffy. Sorry I'm just. The, um, head of the watchers council, my boss, Quentin Travers. He was, erm, murdered last night."

"Wow. That's. How could someone just kill the head of the council? Does the rest of the council know who did it, or do they have any, you know, leads?"

"No, I've only just told them." replied Giles. Noting the look of confusion on Buffy's face, he began to explain further. "Quentin wasn't in England when he was killed, he was here in Sunnydale. I'm the one who found the body, along with one of the two guards he had with him. I don't know where the other one is, I assume the worst." Giles paused for a moment as he gathered some paperwork that was strewn on the desk in front of him . "There's something else. I've just been comparing the police notes on Harmony's wound to the one that killed Travers. I may not be much of a pathologist but they seem...almost identical."

Buffy sat down, looking at the notes on the table. "So your saying that whoever killed Harmony..."

"Also assassinated Travers, yes." said Giles, finishing her sentence for her.

"Great, so we've got some kind of sword wielding daemon assassin to worry about. Can this town get any normal visitors?" Buffy was about to get up and leave, then she remembered why she had gone to see Giles in the first place. "Listen Giles. I've been...Last night, on patrol, Darkside showed up again and...my powers didn't work."

"I'm sorry, what?" "My powers didn't work, Giles. I hit Darkside with everything I had and it was like...I was normal, just Buffy again."

"And what happened with Darkside?" asked Giles, sounding concerned.

"He offered to walk me home. And I said yes. I never thought I'd sink that low, but...Giles, what's wrong with me?"

Giles was quiet for a long time. Eventually he got up and went into his office, after a few seconds of rummaging around he emerged holding a brief case. He placed it on the table in front of Buffy and opened it. Inside was a small case which Giles took out and laid in front of Buffy. Inside was a syringe filled with a strange looking green liquid.

"It's an organic compound... of muscle relaxants and adrenal suppressers." Giles voice sounded shaky as he spoke. " The effect is temporary. You'll be yourself again in a few days."

Buffy just stared at the case, unable to believe what she was being told. **"**It's a test, Buffy." Giles continued his explanation " It's given to the Slayer once she... uh, well, if she reaches her eighteenth birthday. The Slayer is disabled and then entrapped with a vampire foe whom she must defeat in order to pass the test. The vampire, Kralik, is dead now and with Quentin's death the test is null and void. Buffy?"

Buffy hadn't said a word since Giles had opened the case.

"Buffy?"

"You...you knew. You were giving me this...and you didn't say a word."

"Buffy, I...I wanted to but... in matters of tradition and protocol, I must answer to the Council."

Buffy gave a sarcastic laugh. "It's funny. I beat the crap out of Darkside every night and he's still more trust worthy than you."

"Buffy, I'm sorry."

Buffy got up and left without another word, leaving Giles alone. He looked down at the syringe, still resting in its case. He picked it up and threw it against the wall, then he headed off after Buffy, hoping that maybe he could still beg her forgiveness.

The library left empty, until a black hole appeared in the centre of the room. Darkside walked over to where the broken syringe lay and picked it up. There was still some of its contents left inside.

"You are going to be very useful to me."

In the weeks that past Buffy did forgive Giles, eventually. Darkside continued fighting Faith and Buffy and he lost every bout. Unbeknownst to the slayers, Darkside was keeping a very close eye on them, waiting for an opportunity. He felt it was time to make his presence know to the wider world.

He'd noticed that Buffy and Faith were on something of a role lately so he'd been quietly following them for days. The sun had gone down a while ago and the two slayers had gone out for another patrol. They were currently fighting a group of vampires in an ally. The fight wasn't going well for the vampires.

"And another one bites the dust." said Darkside, continuing his rolling commentary of events. He was sitting on the roof just above the ally, giving him a perfect view of the scene below. He watched as someone reached out from the shadows to grab Buffy's arm, as she spun him round and smashed him into a dumpster. There was a cry of "Faith. NO!" then Faith staked Alan Finch in the heart.

"Hahaha. Brilliant!"

Buffy seemed to be trying to stop the blood loss while Faith just stood behind her, staring at her own handiwork. Then Faith seemed to panic. She grabbed Buffy and pulled her up, saying something that Darkside couldn't quite make out. Then the two ran off.

Darkside waited for what could have been minutes or hours. He had done nothing but wait since he arrived in Sunnydale but now he felt as though he was getting somewhere. Eventually Faith returned. As she kneeled down by Allen's body, Darkside quietly dropped to the ground behind her.

'Show time' he thought.

"Faith?"

Faith jumped up and spun round. She looked absolutely terrified. "Dark...this isn't...I didn't..." she wasn't making any sense. Darkside remembered the first time he killed as being easy, but then he'd intended it.

He looked from Faith to the blood stained stake still in her hand. Then he turned and ran, Faith right behind him. 'So far, so good'. He started climbing one of the metal fire escapes that was latched to the side of one of the buildings. When he reached the top the paused for a moment to see of Faith was still following him. Sure enough, she was still there. He ran forward until he was standing at the opposing ledge. He looked down and saw another ally stretching out beneath.

He made a show of being trapped as Faith caught up with him.

"Ok Darkside...listen good. You are going to keep quiet about what happened down there ok. If I find out that you've told anyone I'll-"

"You'll what!? Kill me to? No way...I'm not going to die. You won't kill me!"

Darkside made a run for Faith's left. Faith tried to grab him to keep him from fleeing. She wasn't sure what happened next. Darkside seemed to stop struggling all of a sudden.

"Now...you're going to..." Faith went quiet. As Darkside staggered back she saw the stake, her stake embedded in his ribs. He looked up from his wound for a moment, then he stumbled and fell over the ledge.

Faith ran over to try and catch him but it was too late. She watched as he fell and hit the ground below. She stared down at him for a moment then she ran, looking for a way down.

If she'd have stayed she would have seen a man in a brown cloak appeared next to Darkside's body.

"Is she gone?" asked Darkside.

"Yes" replied Ansem.

"Fantastic." he leapt to his feet, feeling a-buzz with energy. "That was perfect andOWWW! Dam this stake hurts! Oh, wait, she's coming back. Time for the big finish."

Darkside returned to his previous position on the ground while Ansem disappeared. Faith walked down the alley to where Darkside lay. 'What was he even doing here? Why did he try to run?' thought Faith as she looked down at his body. She was about to reach down and tough it when a black pool appeared below him. As the body began to sink in faith had an urge to try and pull him out, save him. But then she thought of something. 'I'm the only one who knows he was even here. And now the evidence is taking care of itself.' So she stayed where she was and watched as Darkside's body fell away. Soon there was nothing left, even the black hole had disappeared.

Now all she had to do was dispose of the other body and she was in the clear.

The black hole didn't take Darkside very far. He reappeared back on top of the building that he'd just jumped off of. From the roof top he had a perfect view of Faith hauling off the deputy mayor's body. He smiled to himself, imagining the look of Faith face when he would return. But that was for later. A group of Heartless had been watching events from the shadows and were now assembled behind him like a pack of wolves.

"Start spreading the news...I'm leaving today...I want to be a part of it...New York, New York!"


	7. Chapter 7

7: Out and about.

After the 'incident' with the deputy mayor, Buffy had found sleep elusive. And when it did come it was always accompanied by nightmares of drowning. The next morning, Buffy had gone to find Faith, to confront her about what happened. Her response: "I don't care."

Faith had told her that they were 'in this together'. Now Buffy had no idea what to do.

After worrying her way through morning classes she'd decided to go to the library, hoping that she could muster the courage to talked to Giles. When she arrived she found that Giles was not alone.

"Well...hello." said the stranger. His accent was defiantly British and Buffy somehow got the feeling that he was from the watchers council.

"Watcher?" she asked Giles.

"Sort of." he answered.

"Wesley Wyndam-Price." he took a step forward and offered his hand. Buffy remained where she was. Feeling awkward, Wesley withdrew his hand. "It's very nice to meet you. And no, I'm not here as a watcher. I was actually sent here as part of the investigation into Quentin Travers' death."

"The head of the watchers gets run through and they send...you?" Buffy's sarcasm was obvious, even to Wesley but he ignored it.

"I was sent here to collect evidence and send my finding back to the council. They'll be doing the real detective work." he looked through some of the notes scattered on the table in front of him. Buffy recognised some of them as the notes Giles had made. "I've...er...examined the evidence and I find mister Giles conclusion to be valid. Mister Travers and the girl...miss...Kendal. They were both killed by the same individual."

"Thank god your on the case." said Giles.

Wesley was about to say something but he stopped when the library door opened once again.

"Ah, this must be Faith."

Buffy turned round. She hadn't spoken to Faith after their meeting in her flat. It was not something she remembered fondly.

"New watcher?" asked Faith

"Investigator, techinqly." answered Giles.

"Yes, speaking of which. There's been another murder, the ,erm, Deputy Mayor." Buffy's heart practically stopped. She'd heard that the body had been found on the news but now this new watcher was looking into it.

Giles rolled his eyes. "The Modus operandi is different. Harmony and Quentin were killed using a far larger weapon. Mister Finch's death is the result of human malice not a daemonic assassination."

"None the less, I feel it requires investigation." said Wesley, sounding frustrated at being overruled.

"No problem." said Faith. "Wouldn't mind kicking a little extra bad guy butt anyway."

"Yes...I've also been going over Mister Giles' reports and I'm very interested in this...'Dark Side'. These ,erm, powers you described...we don't have anything like them recorded in the watchers archives. I don't suppose you could bring him in for an interview."

"Bring him in?" asked Giles in a mocking tone. "Were not a secret police force you know."

"Hey...if we find him. We'll tell him your interested. Right B?"

"Yeah...sure." replied Buffy. She had no idea where to find Darkside during the day. He'd probably be somewhere making a fool of himself.

Los Angeles. The offices of Wolfram and Heart. Lindsey McDonald was listening to yet another client trying to make a deal with the law firm. The client himself was probably the youngest he'd ever interviewed. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. The deal itself was certainly interesting, even by this firms standards. As a result his boss, Holland Manners and one of his colleges, Lilah Morgan had been called in to help finalise things.

"So...your plan is to make an army of monsters?" asked Lindsey, once the client hand finished.

"Well...yes. But I need people to do it...lots of people."

"And you want us to supply them?" asked Lilah. "You realise that we would expect a large payment. Making a large number of people disappear, no questions asked, isn't cheap."

"Ok...sixty percent of any and all plunder and I'll give you the secret to making the monsters yourselves. I'm sure they'd make invaluable shock troops...or terror weapons."

Lindsey looked at Manners. His boss seemed to mull the it over for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Mister Darkside. We have a deal."

"Excellent." said Lilah. "I'll get a team stated on the logistics. You can expect delivery by...Friday."

"Oh, wait...hang on." the lawyers had been about to get up before their client interrupted. "I'm afraid there's been...some kind of misunderstanding here."

"And that would be?" asked Lindsey.

"When I said Wolfram and Heart would supply the people." He started smiling in a way that made Lindsey feel uneasy. "I meant **Wolfram and Heart** would supply the people."

All three of the lawyers laughed at that. You really couldn't blame them. From their point of view they were completely safe and unassailable. But just believing something does not make it so.

After they stopped laughing Manners pressed the intercom for security. "Dennis, would you please escort our 'guest' from the building."

There was a pause for a moment, then Dennis, the current chief of security, answered. "M-mister Manners...we're getting killed out here sir...these things they just came out of nowhere. We couldn't defend...their coming out of the goddamARRRGHH-"

The line went dead, but that didn't stop Manners from trying the intercom a few more times. "Dennis? Dennis!?Anyone!?" only static answered him.

"Mr Manners" Lilah's tone made Holland look up. Five black creatures had risen up from the floor behind where Darkside was sitting. He was now the only one in the room still smiling. He stood and walked towards the trio, the creatures following behind.

Lilah backed away into a corner, Lindsey was slowly moving towards the windows, leaving Manners where he was. "Now...I'm sure we can-"

"I don't need you. Get him." Before Manners could move all five Heartless leapt at him simultaneously.

Lindsey didn't see what happened next. He was too busy looking at Darkside, who was walking his way. Lindsey tired to back away further but found that he couldn't. He'd already backed up as far as the windows, there was nowhere else to go.

"Lindsey." Darkside slammed his palm on the glass next to Lindsey's head. "I need to talk to the senior partners. And you're going to get me an audience."

Lindsey fought the overwhelming fear and tried to think rationally. He knew that this boy couldn't beat the Senior Partners, no one could. He'd lose and when he did the Partners would remember whose side Lindsey took. "Not a chance." he said.

Darkside stopped smiling "Not the answer I was looking for." The glass started to crack around his palm. "You have two ways off this building Lindsey, express or coach. You're choice."

"I have nothing more to-" Darkside gave Lindsey a push. His darkness enhanced strength smashed Lindsey through the already weakened glass and out into the void beyond. For a moment he hovered where he was, then he plummeted down.

"How about goodbye?"

Darkside moved away from the window and headed for the corner that Lilah still occupied. There were six Heartless now, arranged in a semicircle around Lilah, staring at her with unblinking yellow eyes.

"Now, Lilah. I'm sure you'll be far more cooperative than Mister McDonald."

Lilah looked at the hole in the glass where Lindsey had been. It didn't take long to make up her mind.

"If I help you. You'll let me live?" she asked.

"Get me to the senior partners and I promise I'll let you go."

Lilah was not reassured but as long as there was a chance that she'd live through this, she'd play Darkside's game. She lead him to the elevator and pushed the button of the White Room.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Money, power? Whatever it is, the partners can give you more."

Darkside laughed at that. "This isn't about money or power. This is about purpose."

Lilah was about to inquire further when the elevator chime signalled that they'd arrived. The doors slide open to reveal that blank space of the White Room. Darkside Walked in, seeming to know where he was going.

"Wait! What about me?" asked Lilah "You said you'd-"

"I said that I'd let you go. I never said that I'd call the Heartless off." Darkside turned to face Lilah, who was still standing in the elevator. "There's not much I care about Lilah, but one of the things I value is loyalty. Another is purity of intent. You have proven that you have neither." with that he continued on his way. "I reckon you get five steps before one of them gets you."

Lilah was about to call after him, try and make a case for herself but she stopped when she realised it was pointless. 'Maybe there's a chance I can make it.' she told herself 'If I'm fast enough I can get out before those things catch me'. She pushed the button for the ground floor.

Darkside heard the elevator doors close behind him with a slight whoosh noise. His path was momentarily blocked by a little girl in a red dress, the partners conduit. Mesektet.

"Well, haven't we been causing-"

"Thundagun." Mesektet screamed as a lightning bolt struck her. There was a flash of bright light then the room was empty once more. Or so it seemed.

"I know your there." Darkside turned round to face the Senior Partners. There were three of them. All dressed in the same red robes and wearing hoods that obscured their faces.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hissed the one in the centre.

"Does there have to be meaning. Can't I just be evil for evils sake?" asked Darkside, childishly.

"If you are evil then we are on the same side. We can come to an arrangement." this time it was the partner on the left.

"Wrong. You're not evil. You know what I see. Failures. You feed of those weaker that you. Your pathetic."

"And what are you going to do little boy." now it was the one on the right. "Do you really think you can hurt us?"

"Hurt you. Haven't you been paying attention. The deal was that Wolfram and Heart would supply people to make my Heartless. Nothing in that excludes the three of you."

A small Shadow rose up next to Darkside. And another. And another. Soon the entire white room was heaving with shadows. All waiting for Darkside's command.

"Gentle men. You have a front row seat." The partners watched as he raised his hand. "To the beginning of the dark ages." He snapped his fingers and the Heartless charged.


	8. Chapter 8

8: Dealing with the opposition.

"We need to act now." The powers that be hardly ever took direct action in mortal affairs, but things were spiralling out of control.

First a dark warrior appears out of nowhere in Sunnydale where he takes an interest in the Slayer. The powers had expected him to kill her but instead he'd faked his own death, gone to Los Angeles and destroyed Wolfram and Heart. Now he'd disappeared and left a horde of monsters that couldn't be killed roaming the worlds dark corners.

Which was why they were assembled in their own non-corporeal realm, trying to decide on the best course of action.

"If we don't find a way to destroy them now, who knows what damage they could do." continued the speaker.

"Agreed" said another power. "These dark creatures are more deadly than anything. I fear that the end may be near."

"You think you understand." that was not a power that be. There was something else there with them. Something vast and dark. "But you understand nothing."

"Hello Red." Willow jumped up at the voice. She was dazed and confused. She'd been in the factory. There was a fight, the Slayer and her Puppy, they'd freed the humans. She looked around. She was still in the factory, but it was...different somehow. All the vampires and humans were gone. No, there was one person there with her, someone she recognised.

"I know you. You were with Cordilia."

"Yep. It's me."

Willow smiled at him. He may have been human but he had a killer streak that could be fun for a while. "Wanna play?" she asked "You can kill more of Cordilia's friends."

"Oh, all in good time. But not with you dear."

Willow stopped smiling. "You're no fun." she began to walk away but Darkside had appeared in front of her.

"Can't let you do that. See, the Slayer doesn't know that I'm evil, or that I'm alive for that matter. So, here's the deal. You can leave and do whatever you want." Before Willow could react Darkside had shot out his arm and grabbed her buy the throat. She choked slightly as he lifted her off the ground.

"But if you so much as breath a word about me. I'll make you wish you could die." He didn't sound threatening but somehow, Willow believed what he was telling her. She nodded to show she understood.

"Good." he dropped her. After getting her breath back Willow tried to leave again. This time Darkside didn't get in her way, he stayed where she was. Willow didn't look back, she just kept walking. The more distance she put between herself and him, the better.

Buffy arrived home late. That night hadn't been a very active patrol, few vamps, no daemons and no Darkside. As she entered she noticed the kitchen light was on. A quick investigation revealed that it was her mother, making a late night sandwich.

"Hi mom." Joyce looked up at her.

"Hello Buffy. Did you have a, err, nice night?" she asked. Despite knowing about her daughter being the slayer, Joyce still had a hard time dealing with some of the things that went on in Sunnydale.

"Mah, pretty quiet." responded Buffy.

"But..." Joyce could tell that there was something on her daughters mind.

Buffy wriggled uncomfortably. "It's just that...Darkside wasn't at the graveyard tonight. That's a week now that he hasn't shown up and..."

"You're worried about him."

"Yeah."

Buffy had told Joyce about Darkside shortly after her first encounter with him. Joyce had never met him herself but from what she'd been told that was probably for the best.

"Buffy, you and Faith beat him every time, right?"

"Yeah."

"And he always came back?"

"Yeah. Bight and chipper the next night."

"Well, if he has the strength to come back after losing every time, I don't think you have to worry about him."

Buffy started to smile as she thought about what her mother said. "Thanks mom." Buffy headed upstairs to get ready for bed. It seemed that no matter what happened, her mother always made things better. 'Darkside's fine' she told herself 'he'll be at the graveyard tomorrow with the same lame jokes.'

Riley Finn was in trouble. He was currently hiding behind some fallen debris in the Initiatives base. He still wasn't sure what had happened. One moment all was well then the next there were these black creatures on the loose inside the base, wiping out anything that moved.

To make matters worse, none of the Initiatives weapons, no matter how advanced, had any effect on the creatures whatsoever.

Riley peered out over the rubble. There was someone moving among the creatures. From where he was Riley could just about hear what he was saying.

"I want a floor-by-floor search. Go through every vent, every room, every cupboard. Once you've got everyone, attack the reactor core. Blow this whole place to hell. Go, go, go."

Riley watched as the creatures obeyed the boys orders without so much as a question. He needed to get out of this base, to warn his superiors.

"Hello Riley."

Riley spun round, aiming his weapon. The boy had somehow gotten behind him.

"Really, an assault rifle. You really think that will work?"

"One way to find out." Riley squeezed the trigger. He'd barley let off a few rounds when the gun was ripped from his hands. The boy had moved with unnatural speed and was now right next to Riley, holding his gun.

Riley braced himself for the end but the boy just stood there, evaluating him.

"Elevators that way." he pointed towards the complexes main elevator. "It still has power and you won't get any trouble from the Heartless."

"Wait...you're letting me go?" Riley couldn't make sense of this. This kid had just annihilated a government base and was now letting one man go. "Why?"

"I dun no. Sense of responsibility I guess. Hmmm." He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment, then he returned to the present. "You still here? Go on. Tell the government, go to Tahiti and drink beers all day. Won't make a difference either way."

Riley walked away. The creatures watched him as he passed but they didn't get in his way. As he walked he committed all that had happened to memory. He was going to have a lot to explain in the de-briefing.

'Responsibility. Oh, what the hell was I thinking.'

After wiping out the Initiative before it could even really begin, Darkside was being plagued by his conscious, which probably would have been more helpful if it had appeared in time to save Harmony. He couldn't stop thinking about the effect he was having on this world. The people who wouldn't get saved, the people who wouldn't even live.

Spurred on by the new irritating voice in his head, Darkside had gone to Pylea, a small, rather boring (in his mind, anyway) hell dimension.

The people weren't exactly welcoming. Soon after arriving he'd been accosted by several guards who'd called him a "Filthy cow." Darkside had countered with an insult to the groups maternal ancestors. A couple of eviscerations, immolations and a rather nasty incident with a pitch fork later people suddenly became a lot more respectful.

After an hour or two of searching he'd found who he was looking for, in a cave not far from where he'd arrived.

"I'm really here aren't I?" Winifred's voice snapped Darkside out of his stroll down memory lane. "I'm, I'm not dreaming this?"

"Nope. It's real. Your back." he answered.

They'd materialised just outside and airport, he wasn't sure where exactly.

"Here." Darkside held out his hand to Fred. In his palm the was a large wad of bills. "Not sure how much it is but it should get you back home."

"Thanks." Fred was about to go to the waiting taxi rank when she stopped for a moment. "Thank you. For..you know, saving me. You never even told me your name."

"I don't remember my name Fred. And you shouldn't thank me."

That really confused Fred "Why not?"

"I'm going to destroy it. All of it. Every world, Pylea, Earth. Everything. I saved you because I didn't think you should spend your last days in hell."

Fred just stood there and stared at him. She had no idea how to begin processing this.

"Bye Winifred Burke." Darkside walked away, leaving Fred behind. 'One more stop' he thought 'then no more good deeds.'

It was just after eight o'clock at night and with all her chores done, Tara Maclay was getting ready for bed.

"Hey Tara." Tara jumped at the voice. There was someone in her bedroom. Standing in a corner to the left of the door was a young man dress predominantly in black with a weird red symbol on his shirt.

"W-who are you?" she asked nervously.

"Good question, but let's not make this about me. This is alllll about you hon'."

"Tara!" Tara recognised her father's voice calling from downstairs. "What's with all the racket up there!?"

Tara looked from the boy to the door. "Nothing Daddy. I just tripped over something."

"Brave decision." said Darkside. "Why do you do what your father tells you anyway. You have magic, you can leave at any time."

Tara was surprised that the boy knew so much about her. "How do...I can't leave...the magic. It's because...I'm."

"Part daemon." finished Darkside "And you'll turn into one as soon as you turn twenty but If you do what Daddy and Donnie say for the rest of your life, they'll still love you."

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying they lied. There is no daemon in your family. It's made up."

"You mean...my whole life...no. No they wouldn't lie to me."

"You don't believe that Tara. Your too smart."

Tara was having a hard time dealing with this. How could her family lie to her? Could she trust this stranger she'd never met?

A black hole appeared to Darkside's left. Tara took a step back, afraid of the portal.

"Beyond that door is a small town called Sunnydale. You can go there and make you own life, or you can stay here and have your story written for you." Darkside headed for the bedroom door. "Limited time offer though. I'll let myself out."

Darkside left Tara alone. He heard a faint noise as the portal closed. 'That didn't take long'.

After descending the house's small flight of steps he found Tara's brother and Father in a main living room watching a football game together. Her brother, Donnie, was the first to see the intruder coming down the stairs. He jumped up off the sofa, getting into a fighting stance. Mr Maclay himself rose next. He drew himself up to full height and stood next to his son.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house!?" He demanded.

"Tara! Get down here!" yelled Donnie.

"She ain't coming Donno." said Darkside.

Mr Maclay looked furious "What have you done with my daughter!?"

"I did what her family failed to do. I told her the truth."

"What truth?" asked Donnie.

"That the whole 'there's daemon in our family' line is a bunch of bull. Just a story to keep the women in line. Right Billy Bob?"

Both Maclays were turning bright shades of purple. "How dare you..." began Mr Maclay. "You had no right to-"

"Right!" It was Darkside's turn to get angry now. "What gave you the right to lie to your wife and your daughter for all their lives. You convinced them that they were daemons just so you'd have control!"

"Where. Is. Tara?" asked Donnie.

"Gone. I gave her a way out. She's not the only one with some magic. She's way out of your reach now."

That was all Donnie could take. He charged at Darkside, fists raised. Darkside moved to the left and slammed his fist into Donnie's stomach. Donnie's momentum, combined with the force of the blow propelled him backwards to his starting position, next to his father. Only this time he was flat on the ground.

Mr Maclay bent down to pick up his son, who was still conscious somehow. "Get out of here you freak." he spat.

"Humph. You've lied to your family all your life. If I asked you if your wife's death was an accident, would you lie again?"

"What are you talking about?" groaned Donnie. "Mom died from an aneurism, right dad." Mr Maclay didn't answer, he looked off to one side, the colour draining form his face. "Dad?" now Donnie sounded less sure.

"I'll leave you two alone." Darkside left the two behind. He'd probably never find out what happened to them, and he quite frankly didn't care.

Betrayal. It's a very difficult emotion to feel. When a friend betrays you it's always hard to deal with, to know what to think. Part of you remembers the old them while the rest has to face the stark reality.

Buffy was having just such a problem. She was currently chained to a wall, listening to Faith, her fellow slayer and a friend, describe how she was going to torture her to death. As betrayals went, it ranked up there.

Angel was there to, playing the part of Angelus. The two of them had set this whole thing up to get Faith to tell them about the Mayor's plans. So far everything was going the way they planned it but that but that thought wasn't comforting Buffy right now.

"Why, Faith? What's in it for you?" she asked.

"What isn't? You know, I come to Sunnydale. I'm the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. What do I hear about everywhere I go? Buffy. So I slay, I behave, I do the good little  
girl routine. And who's everybody thank? Buffy."

If any of them had bothered to look up right then they might have just seen Darkside who was hiding in the rafters, mouthing along to their conversation.

"It's not my fault." said Buffy.

Faith ignored her. "Everybody always asks, why can't you be more like Buffy? But did anyone ever ask if you could be more like me?"

"I know I didn't." said Angel.

"You get the Watcher. You get the mom. You get the little Scooby gang. You even get a stupid fan boy. What do I get? Jack squat. This is supposed to be my town!" Faith seemed to calm down slightly. "Well, maybe not the fan boy anymore."

Darkside stopped miming to the conversation.

"Faith, what did you do?" asked Buffy, dreading the answer.

Faith laughed slightly "I killed Darkside. It was easy really. He didn't even put up a fight, just kept saying 'you're not going to kill me'. Loser. Sort'a weirded me out when his body disappeared like that. Only useful thing he ever did."

Darkside let out a low snarl. He rolled over from where he was lying and aimed his palm at Faith's head, charging a dark bolt.

"Don't be foolish" he looked up to see Ansem standing on a rafter in front of him. "You have a plan, remember."

Darkside slowly closed his hand, cancelling the dark bolt. He looked away from Ansem to the group below.

Buffy and Angel had gotten all the information they needed from Faith and had dropped their charade. Buffy was now free, and having a standoff Faith in the centre of the room. Angel was closer to the main door. The rest of the scobbies had arrived and, unaware that Angel wasn't really evil, were fending him off with crosses and stakes.

Darkside continued to watch as Buffy and Faith exchanged more words, then Faith made her escape. After she'd gone he also left, warping away.

He reappeared in the middle of a desert. The first thing he did was use a fire spell to burn everything around him. He kept burning and burning until the land around his was one big conflagration.

"RRRRAGGGHH!" Darkside fired a dark bolt that shattered a nearby rock. "Faith Lahne. I was going to make your death quick but now...I 'm going to make you suffer."


	9. Chapter 9

9: Bad choices

In the world of black magic there are many items that can bestow great power on the sorcerer who owns them. Most sorcerers would fight for these items, some would even kill for them. One such item was the box of Gavrok. It was an artefact steeped in dark magic, with a history to match. Over the centuries it had seen many owners, currently it was held by Richard Wilkins III, in his home, which also doubled as his mayoral office. It sat on a plinth, alone, in an empty, circular room.

Empty until Darkside appeared. His arrival was heralded by a black hole which close shortly after he exited. After looking around to make sure he was alone he walked over to the box. He stopped just a few feet in front of it. He reached out, then jerked his hand back as he touched the magical barrier protecting it.

"Oww! Son of a...Oh, so you're going to be like that are you?"

This time when he reached out he used darkness to attack the shield. There was a crackle as the two energies met, then the stronger overpowered the weaker. The barrier fell as the darkness devoured it.

He reached out to touch the box yet again. He was interrupted a second time when he heard footsteps approaching the door.

Darkside left the box and teleported into the closet opposite the holding room. He carefully opened the door and saw Faith walking into the other room.

"Hello? Someone in here?"

'No Ansem to save you now.' he thought. Then he had an idea.

Faith walked around the circular room, checking for any sign of forced entry or something amiss. She had heard something coming from this room, she knew she had.

"Ok, I know someone is in here out come out now!" she demanded.

"Faith." She spun round to face the voice. No one there. She'd recognised that voice, but that was impossible.

She turned back to face the box, and saw Darkside standing in front of her. She stared at him for a moment, unable to accept what she was seeing. Then he started walking towards her. Faith backed away, until her foot caught on the doorstep causing her to stumble and land outside the room.

Darkside stopped just at the threshold and looked down at Faith. "You didn't have to kill me." Then the door slammed shut.

Faith jumped back up and flung the door open again. Nothing, the room was empty. She stared at the empty room for a moment. "Get a grip Faith. He's dead. And you don't care." She closed the door and left.

Darkside re-materialised back in the room. He was trying hard not to laugh. "Oh, that was fantastic. But now, back to business." He looked at the assembled Heartless who were gathered around the box. "Now I like to gamble, take risks. But I don't mind having the deck stacked in my favour."

Darkside opened the box. As soon as he did a spider like daemon the size of his head jumped out at him. He caught it and held it up of the others to see. It screamed slightly as he slowly crushed it.

"Get in there and wipe these bugs out." The heartless obeyed. One by one they crawled into the box. They were going to be a very nasty surprise at tomorrow night's festivities.

Inside the Sunnydale Highs cafeteria the scobby gang was waiting. After a botched attempt to get to box of Gavrok lead to Willow being captured a trade had been organised. They would give the mayor the box and he'd give Willow back.

The groups latest addition, a which called Tara (who was also Willow's girlfriend) tested one of the doors. "Ok. All the doors are locked, except the one at the front."

"Yeah, it gives me that comforting trapped feeling." said Xander.

"One way out means one way in. I want to see them coming." said Buffy, then the lights went out.

"Guess they're shy." Xander sounded a little nervous this time.

"I can see alright." said Angel.

Two vampires opened the front doors, followed by the Mayor and Faith who was holing Willow by the arm. The two groups faced off with Buffy and the Mayor advancing to within arm's reach of each other.

"Well, this is exciting, isn't it?" said the mayor, breaking the silence. "Clandestine meetings by dark of night. Exchange of prisoners. I just, I, I feel like we should all be wearing trench coats."

"Let her go." demanded Buffy.

"No. Not until...does anyone else hear that?"

"What?" asked Buffy,

"That...singing?"

Buffy listened. The mayor was right she could just about make out the sound of someone singing. And it was getting closer. She looked over to the origin of the sound, the doors on the rooms far side.

"There'll be dancing, grooving, howling at the moon. The beat will rattle your bones. There'll be rolling, rocking, get up out you're coffin. 'aint nobody going home." The doors burst open and Darkside walked in. "I'm back."

Everyone in the room was staring at him. Some with annoyance, others with disbelief.

Buffy recovered first "Darkside ,your alive?"

"Point to the short, blonde slayer. Yeah I'm alive and still fabulous."

"That's not possible." Buffy looked over at Faith. "I killed you. You died!"

"Oh please. I faked the whole thing. I wasn't even hurt."

Faith frowned as she absorbed this. "So what I saw yesterday. That was you."

"Yes again. The look on your face was priceless." Faith's frown was replaced by anger. She was about to attack Darkside but the Mayor held up his hand, holding her back. "Well you did kind of deserve it. Knowingly or not, you left me to die twice and I...hi Tara."

Buffy looked over to Tara. She knew Darkside?

"Um...hi." she replyed.

"Well. I didn't expect to see you here. Guess you hooked up with Willow, right?"

"Y-yes."

"Knew it, some things never...Wesley?"

The already confused look on Wesley's face deepened. "Yes. How do you know my name?"

"Sod that, what the hell are you doing here?"

"That's none of your concern."

"Well, as interesting as this all is, there's still the matter of my box and your friends life." said the mayor. Buffy handed him the box. As soon as he had it Faith released Willow's arm. She ran over to stand next to Tara.

"Um, yeah. About your box. Hope you need a replacement toilet 'cause that's about all its good for now."

The mayor's triumphant look faltered at that. "What?" He opened to box to find it was...empty. "What...there should be...what did you do!?"

"I broke your toy. I've had enough of inaction, enough of playing the comic relief. I'm bad, I'm evil and I'm-

Darkside was interrupted by Principle Snyder and two police officers who burst in through the doors behind him.

"Nobody moves!" demanded Snyder. "I knew you kids were up to something."

"Snyder, get out of here." warned Buffy, but he didn't listen.

"You're not giving orders, young lady." Then Snyder noticed Darkside "Hey. I remember you. You're the one who assaulted me."

"Snyder...for once, I'm glad you showed up."

Darkside dashed forwards with supernatural speed. It was almost like someone had skipped a scene. The next thing Buffy knew he was standing next to Snyder, holding a large, black sword. One of the officers fell to the floor, a red pool expanding around him. Buffy knew what had just happened but she couldn't accept it. Darkside had just killed someone.

The other cop came to his senses and started fumbling for his gun. He never got a chance to draw it. Darkside did another speed flash and the second cop went down, as dead as the first.

Snyder ran for the door but the cops had locked it when they had come in. Darkside reached round and grabbed him by the throat, then he took a few steps forward. "What a loser." Then he ran Snyder through. Darkside swung the sword to the right and Snyder's body slid of the blade, landing in a pile of chairs.

"Oh...my." stammered Wesley.

"Buffy. That sword, it matches the wounds on Harmony and Quentin." said Giles.

Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing "What...you mean he-"

"That's right. I killed Harmony and Travers and those are just the ones you know about. There have been thousands, maybe more. But now, dear friends, I must cease the pleasantries." Darkside surveyed the room. "Here you are, all my enemies in one place. This was too good to miss."

"If you think you can take us all then your crazier than Faith." said Xander.

"Alone?" Darkside smiled in a way that made Buffy feel uneasy. "No. Not alone." A black aura enveloped him as soon as he finished speaking. Something rose up out of his back. It was formless at first but then it solidified. The creature had a humanoid torso with muscular arms and inky-black skin. Its face was featureless save for two bright yellow eyes and two long, crooked antenna that fell down over its back. The creatures body ended below the waist with a small, tail like appendage that faded away into Darkside's body.

Darkside smiled widely at the group, then he attacked. Another dashing strike that killed the vampire on the mayors left. The other vampire tried to fight back by leaping at him but the strange creature caught him in mid air and decapitated him with a sweep of its arm. Then the two changed their attention to the Mayor and Faith.

"Shouldn't we, you know, help them?" asked Willow.

"I'm happy with them killing each other." said Angel.

"No." they all looked at Buffy. "Darkside killed Harmony and god knows how many other people. We stop him now!" She was about join the fight when five shadowy creatures rose up out of the floor. They were very similar in form to the thing connected to Darkside except they had legs instead of a wisp like tail. The creatures were standing in a line, blocking the scoobies off from Faith.

Buffy looked over behind the black creatures to see how Faith was fairing. It wasn't good. As fast as Faith was, Darkside was faster. He was avoiding her every blow while his never missed, plus he wasn't alone. He had the guardian creature. Every time Faith looked like she could get a hit in the creature blocked her or moved Darkside out of the way. After dodging another hit Darkside did another speed flash. Faith prepared herself for a sword attack but instead he simply appeared in front of her with this arms folded. Faith hadn't been expecting this so she was unprepared when the creature grabbed her by the shoulders. She tried to break free but the thing wouldn't let go.

Behind Darkside the Mayor was in worse straits. Three of the same creatures blocking Buffy's path had their arms wrapped around him, holding him in place.

"Richard Wilkins the third." said Darkside. "You wanted to ascend, well, I'll let you have your wish."

Another shadow creature rose up in front of the mayor. It seemed to regard him for a second, then it lashed out, jamming its hand into his chest.

"Boss!" Yelled Faith.

Buffy watched as the mayor fell sideways, the creatures releasing him. As he fell his body evaporated, replaced by a thick darkness that was somewhere between oil and smoke. The mass took shape and solidified. The black creature that had been the mayor stood up and joined with its fellows.

Faith looked at the creature. She seemed utterly defeated. Then the creature holding her began to squeeze. Faith thrashed a little before falling into unconsciousness.

Darkside looked over to the scobbies. "Later 'tatters." then he, the creature and Faith vanished in a large black hole. As soon as they were one the other creatures left to, fading back into the floor.

"We are in so much trouble." said Xander.

* * *

Will Faith survive? Will Buffy defeat Darkside? Will I ever finish this damb story? Stay tuned.


End file.
